:: My Blog's Name is Jennifer ::

:: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 ::

I just talked to my new roommate, Mallory, a transfer student from southern Indiana. She seems nice enough. Normal. It's hard to talk to someone you don't know on the telephone, but hopefully we'll get along all right.
:: Mac 7:00 PM [+] ::
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I was scared to death of actually working the High Sierra Ferris Wheel at work, because it's a little complicated. So I was able to avoid doing it for about a month, ever since my training ended. I lived in fear of that ferris wheel. But yesterday, I finally was forced to learn it. Now every ride in myy area is an option to work and not be scared.

Today I was awarded the Four Cornerstone pin, meaning I demostrate the four points that make Knotts employees shien or whatever - Service, Courtesy, Cleanliness, and Safety, which rest on the base of Integrity. Mostly b.s., I know, but not everyone gets one. A lot of ROs who've been there longer than me don't have one yet, so it means a lot to me.

I also got the papers to put in my two weeks notice today.

It sucks that just as I really get the hang of my job, I have to let it go.
:: Mac 5:59 PM [+] ::
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It took two and a half hours to drive to San Diego due to traffic. The lines were horrible. I didn't get to meet everyone I wanted to. I came home with a huge headache. And yet, was going to Comic-Con International worth it?

Damn straight.

Here is a list of people I saw:

* Kevin Smith (actor/director/writer, Silent Bob)
* Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons, Futurama, and Life in Hell)
* Al Jean (producer of The Simpsons and former writer for it, creator of the Critic)
* some other Simpsons guys
* Dan Carridine (the kung fu guy)
* EG Daly (the voice of Tommy from the Rugrats and a whole lot of other shows' voice actress)
* the kid from The Neverending Story
* Kate Beckinsale (some actress...meh)
* Richard Roxburgh (the Duke from Moulin Rouge!, M from LXG, Dracula in upcoming Van Helsing)
* the director of The Mummy (and Van Helsing)

And now, for the big three...
* HUGH JACKMAN
* DOMINIC MONAGHAN
* ELIJAH WOOD

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

It hurt my very soul to be in the same room as these gentlemen, breathing the very same air as them, and not get close. Sean Astin was there too, but I didn't spot him. Nevertheless, I managed to get some pictures by alluding security a bit and edging as closely as I dared.

And I will always regret not asking Hugh during the Van Helsing Q&A to please take off his shirt.

Oh, and some girls called Halle Berry and Angelina Jolie were around too, but I didn't see them. I only heard the commotion. Also, too many others to remember.

Here's a list of people I actually met, and I'm using the term as loosely as I can:

* Brian Posehn (Kevin from Just Shoot Me!, stand up comic; was the first celebrity spotted, being pulled by rickshack to the Con)
* Diamond Dallas Page (wrestler; took my dad's picture with him)
* Rowdy Roddy Piper (another wrestler...these were for Dad...)
* Sandra Hope (an inker for Gen 13 and other things)
* Yanick Paquette (penciller for Gambit and Gen 13)
* Leonardo Fernandez (um, I don't know, but he's a penciller, and a damn fine one)
* Michael Jantze (cartoonist, The Norm)
* Chris Browne (cartoonist, Hagar the Horrible, Raising Duncan)
* Bruce Timm (Warner Brothers animation producer, Batman, Batman Beyond, et cetera)
* Frank Cho (artist, Liberty Meadows)
* Tim Sale (penciller, Spider-Man Blue, Daredevil Yellow, Superman For All Seasons, et cetera)
* Adam Hughes (penciller extraordinaire)
* Jeph Loeb (writer, Batman, millions of other books)
* Ale Garza (penciller, Gen 13, Teen Titans)
* Neil Gaiman (writer/novelist, Sandman, Good Omens, et cetera)
* STAN LEE (Mr. Marvel, nearly ran into me)

Besides these thrilling events, I got a cool T-Shirt and lots of souvenirs. Ale gave me a cool Batman poster, signed, and gave me an autograph and a great sketch of Burnout (my favorite Gen 13 character). Yanick gave me a Roxy sketch without my even asking (kinda wishing I'd asked for Gambit now though...) I'm going to pretend the Hughes sketch is of me, that Sale's Batman doesn't look just like the one he did for my dad, and that Cho's little drawing of Truman the Duck had taken more than three seconds.

Who were the coolest people to meet? Well, the Stan Lee incident made my heart race - my hero, in the flesh, brushing past me. I snapped a photo of the back of his head (he's balding less than Kevin Smith).

Yet, of all the people, my highlights were:

Ale Garza, who was good enough to give me all that stuff and take time out from doing a paid commission to sketch and ink a character whom he doesn't even draw. (And he's cute...)

Jeph Loeb, whom I was able to intelligently ask a question and get a good response to. ("Is there any chance we'll see Kaboom again?" Abridged answer - "Sure, a chance.")

And Chris Browne, who told me I made his night for mentioning that I loved Raising Duncan. Sure, he does Hagar, but RD is his baby, about his life, and based on his Scottie dog who's recently passed on. He sketched both Hagar and Duncan for me in red Sharpie.

I am so tired. That is all.

Tracey, I took many a photo of Hugh for you (at a distance). Okay, and maybe for me too.

Will I be back next year?

Probably.

:: Mac 11:00 PM [+] ::
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I was plagued by many strange dreams last night, most of which I can no longer remember. One of them may have been about La Bomba from the Max Weinberg 7 (Late Night's house band) commiting a horrible murder. Why does my brain do this to me?

In another, which actually had some sense to it, I was dating a famous musician (famous in my dream, at least). At one point, I was watching him at a concert, and when he was singing a happy love song he'd throw "Mackenzie" into the chorus. Later, I got worried that he was getting bored with me, so I went to a witch and got a small vial of love potion. But I was scared that the potion would kill him or something, so I went around trying to get people to test it. But they'd always lose their nerve, and in the process more and more of the potion would be spilled. Finally, a little girl is brave enough to try it, and it works! Unfortunately, it's the very last of potion that she samples. The bottle is empty, and because of my distrust I may've lost the guy's love forever.

That's actually a pretty good story. Hooray for my unconcious mind workings.
:: Mac 9:51 AM [+] ::
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I saw The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen last night. There may be spoilers ahead.

Okay, first of all, I loved this movie. Most people may not know it, but LXG is a comic book, written by the same guy who wrote the From Hell series (and also later a decent movie). And it's excellent in that it's got all those comic book elements in it - bigger than life characters, unbelievable action, et cetera - without being obvious about it. The acting is sound, the story and artistic direction is beautiful, and for once the story is actually awesome. And the action at times is amazing.

The story essentially is that this masked man called The Phantom is attacking various European nations in 1899, trying to insight a world war so the weapons he is producing will be bought by everyone. As panic begins to ensue, an agent of Britain runs off to Africa in order to recruit Alan Quartermain, an aging adventurer, to lead a team of extraordinary individuals and stop the guy. Later, he's introduced by the mysterious M to the other members of the League - Mina Harker (a scientist with a secret), Rodney Skinner (a gentleman thief who happens to be invisible), and Captain Nemo (who has a cool car and a neat boat).

Soon, they're busy recruiting Dorian Gray (a handsome dandy with a secret or two as well) and Dr. Jekyll (encumbered by Mr. Hyde). A young American agent called Sawyer tags along for the ride, and they set off to Venice, where many interesting things happen. Oh yeah, and there might be a traitor among them.

Now, everyone one of these characters mentioned, along with several other minor ones, is a literary character from the nineteenth century. Alan Quartermain, the original Indiana Jones. Mina Harker, a certain Mr. Jonathan Harker's wife. The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll, Captain Nemo, duh. Dorian Gray is the creation of my beloved Oscar Wilde (and played essentially as a Wilde impression, which is appropriate considering that the author always indentified with that character).

The problem with this is that not everyone is overly familiar with classic literature. It took the audience until Dr. Jekyll introduced himself to get who he was, even though Quartermain had called him Mr. Hyde a dozen times already. The film needed to be a little more blunt in stating who these people are exactly. I didn't know who Quartermain was; I had to look it up. M is a character (though I won't say who), but I don't think it's ever stated outright who, though it's certainly alluded to. The most obvious one, I believe, is Agent Sawyer - sure, they call him Sawyer a few times, but do they ever make it clear that he's Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain's boy? No. I wish they had.

I'll also state here that I believe the marketing was all wrong for this movie. It emphasized only Sean Connery (Quartermain). Yes, he's the only super-star in the film, but one should've also considered two others - Stuart Townshend (Dorian) and Shane West (Sawyer). I will be blunt - these guys are hot. I appreciated their prescence immensely, and I'm sure other women and girls would too, if they knew they were even in the movie! They're barely in the ads at all, and I was looking for them. No, it was all about Connery, who just isn't my cup of tea, personally.

Ohhh man, those boys were nice to look at. Dorian in his suit? Mm. Sawyer, in his hat? And he walked around with his suspenders down too, like Randy used to. Haha. My only problem was that Dorian Gray of the book would've much rather kissed any of the men in the League than Mina, if you catch my drift.

Anyway, other than those bits, I enjoyed this film a great deal. I recommend it - lots of tongue-in-cheek humor, great action and special effects, and an actual, intelligent story. A film that literary geeks like me can enjoy, along with folks who've only ever read TV Guide.

Damn, I want to see it again.


:: Mac 9:34 AM [+] ::
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Some of you Loara High School alums have probably heard that the school's mascot ("the Saxons") may get changed. Why? Apparently, a Saxon is a poor representation of the wonderful people of Northern Europe, a stereotype. At least, that's how I understand the problem.

I think this is about the stupidest thing ever, considering that there really WERE Saxons/Vikings who were vicious people at times. Also, I really doubt many people actually believe the modern people of Scandinavia walk around with huge swords and horned helmets.

I've heard from an unreliable source that a possible alternative is "the Sharks." Not only is that lame, but it's also the name of one of the gangs in "West Side Story." You know, that movie with the dancing gang bangers? Yeah. Lame. And what would happen to the Sammy Saxon statue? Put a big fin on his head and a snorkle and goggles on his face? I don't think so.

Instead, we need to make Sammy Saxon more universally ethnic-friendly.

Petition to have his name changed to Samuel L. Saxon.

That has to work.
:: Mac 9:23 AM [+] ::
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I'm going to explain this, but only this once. If it makes no sense, sorry, but you'll have to deal.

I am an extremely private person, and I value being left alone a great deal. This is surprising considering I have an online journal, but it's true. A lot of my time I like to spend by myself, which most people really don't understand. I used to sit under a tree by myself and eat lunch in junior high; when I'd explain that it was the only time that I could really be alone, the other kids thought I was lying and just didn't have friends.

But dammit, I just wanted to be left alone. And I still do. There are very few people, friends or family, who I can tolerate interacting with on a regular basis. This doesn't mean I don't like other people or don't want to spend time with them at all. Just in moderation, as are the doses I take of the real world.

Even talking to people via the Internet can be too much for me. The same people I can keep close are the same people I IM often, more or less. I don't like to feel as if I HAVE to talk to someone for several hours a day, online or otherwise.

Maybe I should tell people when they're bothering me, but I often don't. I have no backbone sometimes. Instead, I start feeling overwhelmed and resentful of the other person. That's one of many faults of mine. I don't WANT to be resentful. I don't want to eventually HATE the person because they innocently annoy me. So I avoid talking to them at all costs. Simple as that.

Then again, I also feel overwhelmed when people feel jealous over celebrity crushes, get upset over plans several years in the future, and unsuccessfully try to deceive their others and find out info about them. Joking? An accident? I'm a cynic.

No, ex-girlfriends don't transform into bitches. They act how they feel finally; if that's "bitchy", I'm sorry. Then I was always a bitch, and you just didn't see. But it seems to me that a classic bitch is a girl who knows what she wants and doesn't mind saying it.

I'm trying very hard to spare feelings. I don't like hurting people; I've been hurt enough in my life to know how it feels. But I also don't want to be unhappy.

Congratulations on becoming a prick and insulting me on your lj. I'm still trying not to hate you, but you've made it that much harder. FYI, bitterness is not attractive. I still wish you the best on your future love life, so you might want to follow that advice.

Now please do my a favor and leave me the hell alone before my feelings get worse.

P.S. I'm also sorry you apparently don't get my humor. But of course, you're not the only one.
:: Mac 12:46 AM [+] ::
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I should also mention that I have updated my recommended list, deleting sites that I no longer visit often or ones for which I have little hope of ever seeing get updated. That included a few blogs, unfortunately. If Phillip decides to pick his up again, please let me know.

I also added a couple. Go take a looksie.
:: Mac 11:38 PM [+] ::
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Long day of shopping with my mother, then Annie and Betty, in which I bought the following:

* a lovely little book with sketches by "Sam Gamgee"
* black rollerball pens
* colored pencils
* food
* drink
* free Big Red gum

I also chatted with Bri a bit when we went to go get Betty at the pool, and got a couple good hugs from Chris. (I almost typed Kiss. Freudian slip? O_o) Later, I witnessed the death of a kitten and the subsequent bathings of others. All in all, a full day.

And I must say this:

BARCELONA!
It was the first time that we met.
BARCELONA!
How could I forget?

Et cetera.
:: Mac 11:35 PM [+] ::
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I've worked eight days STRAIGHT, and I am tired. Cursed Knotts and its tendancy to transfer Camp Snoopy ROs to other rides at any given moment. Every other ride complains about not getting enough hours, and I'M working almost every day. I thought this was supposed to be part-time!

One more work day until my day off...one more work day until my day off...
:: Mac 10:15 PM [+] ::
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Dear World:

Stop using my name. For many years, the only Mackenzie anyone had ever heard of was Mackenzie Philips, and that was fine with me. Sure, people continually thought it was my last name, but at least it's pretty and WAS somewhat unique. Now it seems that every baby girl being shot out of her mother's womb is being named Mackenzie or some spelling varient thereof. Even Kenzie, the nickname I've endured since infancy and came to hate, has been seen to grace various little girls and even a Barbie doll. And I don't like it.

I am in an awkward position here. I'm old enough that my peers still think my first name's my last, while young parents and children are pretty used to it. It's on its way to being OVER-used, in fact, and I no longer feel special. It's even being used with regularity for pets. I was told that Mackenzie is a very popular name for sled dogs in Alaska, for example. How do you think that makes me feel? Even my own great-grandma named her cat "Kenzie", though that was so she'd be able to remember its name.

Also, need I mention the Mackenzie River in Canada?

To make matters worse, there was once a tennis player named Dorothy Mackenzie Walton. There is a MacKenzie-Walton Company. At least two other girls in the state of California alone have the same name as me, sans the middle one.

Anyone older than me named Mackenzie is okay. They have a right to the name. But I'm going to have to ask that every other person/animal in the United States at least change it legally. Might I suggest Lauren or Amanda? Those names are already over-used as it is, so it won't be a big change.

I know it's a hassle, but do me a favor. I'll owe you one.

Please send evidence of name change to me via e-mail. Thank you.

-- Mackenzie (the one and only, except for Mackenzie Philips)
:: Mac 9:32 PM [+] ::
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